Reconstructed fuse plug



Feb. 1925. 1,524,650

A. HANSEN RECONSTRUCTED FJSE PLUG Filed Aug. 24, 1922 INVENTOR @wM/fm BY y M WAT ORNEY Patented Feb. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES ANDREAS HANSEN, F YORK, N. Y.

REGONSTRUCTED FUSE PLUG.

Application filed August 24, 1922. Serial No. 583,942.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ANDREAS Hansen, a citizen of the Kingdom of Denmark, residing in the city, county, and State of New York have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reconstructed Fuse Plugs, of which the following is a. specification.

The invention relates in general to a reconstructed fuse plug of the type designed to prevent overloading of an electric circuit, and the invention specifically relates to a re placement element in the form of a fusible conductor for renewing a standard form of fuse plug when the same has been burnt out 16 or otherwise destroyed.

In similar constructions now known it is necessary to dismantle parts of the burnt out plug so as to gain access to the interior thereof in order to make the replacement, or it is at least necessary to loosen fastening screws and demount small parts before the replacement element can be disposed in place. The renewing of such plugs necessitates the use of tools and the manipulation of small parts,

26 so that the operation of renewing such plugs is difficult especially under certain service conditions where it is desired to renew a burnt out plug rapidly and without necessity of using tools.

Accordingly the primaryobject of the invention is to provide a simplified-means for renewing a burnt out fuse plug, which renewai means will be simple in construction and therefore economical both in material 3; used and in the necessarv labor to construct the same, which can be disposed in operative position on the plug without necessity of dismantling any of the plug parts and without necessity of using tools to efiect the installation.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying my invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings 1- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken axially through a burnt out plug equipped with a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the re placement element shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the replacement element shown in Figure 1 independent of the reconstructed fuse plug.

In the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience of expression but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit.

In the drawings there is shown a cup shaped fuse plug of the screw type and which includes an insulating porcelain body portion 10 having a fuse containing chamber 11 open at one end and which open end is closed by a cap 12. The body portion 10 is encircled by athreaded contact ferrule 13 and the end 14 opposite the cap 12 has a contact button 15 extending therethrough with an exposed surface 16 on the outside of the plug. There is shown in dotted lines at 16 the remnants of a burnt out fuse wire with which the plug was originally equipped. It will be understood that the construction as thus far described is of conventional form and the illustration is intended to represent any suitable form of plug which may be equipped with the re placement unit featured in this disclosure. This replacement unit 17 is simply a straight or preferably a U-shaped strip of fusible conducting metal such as is commonly used in fuse plugs. The ends 18 are of increased width from the intermediate portion and are preferably fiat or slightly curved so as to readily fit between the ferrule 13 and the body portion 10 on opposite sides of the plug. The element is provided at its midlength or crotch portion with a button 19 which is preferably formed as an enlargement of the thickness of the U-member. One side of the button 19 engages the outer face 16 of the button 15. The replacement unit! is so disposed that when in position on the plug and the plug is rotated into position in its socket, the button 19 engages the corresponding contact centrally positioned in the socket. In other words, the button 19 takes the place of the button 15 and is pressed by the button 15 into firm electric contacting engagement with the contact in the socket. As the leg portions of the U- member are of less cross-section than the button 19 it will be understood that in case this fusible member becomes destroyed by the overcharging of the current passed therethrough, the button 19 having greater conducting capacity than the thinner portion on each side thereof will not fuse and in this way any soldering between the socket parts and the button 15 will be avoided.

In operation and assuming that. the plugs have been rendered inoperativeby the burning out of its original fuse 16, the burntout fuse is unscrewed from the socket, one of the U-ineinbers shown in Figure 2' is disposed; in position bridging across the end 14 of'the plug and the'ends 18 of the new fuse element is worked into the crack formed between the metal contact ferrule and the body portion of; the plug. Under some conditions it will be necessary to spring the edge of the contact ferrule as by inserting the point of a knife blade therein but usually there'issufficient looseness of-fit between the ferrule and body portion ofthe plug to admit of the insertion of the ends of the replacement member. 7

By means ofa device of this character it is possible to renew a burnt out plug any desired number of times and without any necessity for dismantling the plug parts or opening the plug forthe' purpose of reinoving the fragments of the burnt out fuse originally sold with theplug. In fact there is no necessity of opening the plug at all,

' for the replacement element is confined en 'tirely to the outside thereof and the replacement element need not be any more securely fastened in place than is necessary to insure its being carried with the plug into proper engagement with the coacting socket.

WhileI have shown and described, and have pointed out in the annexed claims, certain novel; features of my invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its op eration may be made bythose skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1 In a fabricated fuse plng, construction, the combination with a burnt out fuse plug which includes an externally exposed threaded contact, ferrule and a terminal button i therein the remains of afusible connection between the terminal button andthe ferrule, of a replacement unit constituting an attachment for the outside of the plug and including a fusible conductingmember disposed'in positionconnecting thebut-ton electrically with; the contact ferrule.

2. In a fabricateda fuse plug construction, the combination -with a burnt out fuseplug which ineludes' an insulating body portion,

a contact ferrule and a' con tact buttoinofr a replacement A unit for the plug 7 comprising a conductor having oneend inserted between the ferrule and the bod-y portion to form an electric contact with the ferrule and having another part lapping and-in electrical engagement with the exteriorend ofthe contactbutton and a i being fusible.

3.'In afabricated fuse plug construction, the combination with a brirnt-out-fuse plug which includes-an lnsulatingbody, portioii,"a contact ferrule and a contact button,

contact and which plug includes portion ofsaid conductor of a replacement" unit for the plug co nprising a conductor having one end inserted between the ferrule and the body portionto form an electric contact with'the ferrule and. having anotherpart lappingand in GlGCtIlCEll engagement with the exterior end of'the contact button and a portion: of said conductor being fusible, the portion of the conductor engaging the contact button being less fusible than other portions thereby to prevent soldering of the plug to its socketon the destruction of the more fusible parts. r r r Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 4th day of August HANSEN. 

